Ore smelting processes



March 5, 1957 w. E. GREENAWALT ORE SMELTING PROCESSES Filed Jan. 5, 1954 A :he "'/l/llllllllllllllll I NVEN'TOR. l,

United States Patent O ORE SMELTING PROCESSES William E. Greenawalt, Denver, Colo.

Application January 5, 1954, Serial No. 402,321

6 Claims. (Cl. 75`74) My invention relates in general to smelting finely-di.- vided. ore. lt will be described more particularly .tothe smelting of finely divided dotation concentrate obtained from milling complex ore, containing lcopper and other metals.

Complex ores, as mined, or 'as a mixed produ-ct of simple ores, usually contain copper, gold,gsilver, lead, zinc, and frequently arsenic, antimony, and `the rarer metals, associ-ated with sulphur. Unoxidzod gold ores are practically always associated with Simple, pyrite and frequently wit-h chalcopyrite. When they so occur and mixed with copper, they may be considered the same as `a natural complex.

It a simple pyritic gold ore, assaying $10.00 a ton in gold, is milled to produce ya pyriti'c gold concentrate assaying $100.00 per ton and containing about 5.0 percent pyrite and 50 percent silica, the weight of three ounces of gold in a ton of concentrate .is negligible as compared with the worthless gang-ue for handling and shipping. The expense resides in the worthless'gangue.

1f the concentrate, assaying $100.00 per ton i-n gold, is smelted with an ore containing two percent .copper to produce a 40 percent copper matte-in a ratio of 20 into l-the gold would be concentrated in theasame proportion, and the matte would vcontain 800Y pounds of copper and assay $2000.00 in gold per ton `of matte. The cost of handling and shipping xabout 57 ounces of lgold in a ton of 40 percent copper matte would be negligible. Simple gold and silver ores smelted inv aregu-lar copper smelting plant would not add much to the cost of smelting. The sulphur in the pyrite would provide most of the heat `for fusion.

It is desirable, as a preliminary step in copper matte `smelting of complex ore, t-o eliminate most of the -zinc and lead. Both are injurious in large amounts, particularly the zinc. In doing this ythe ore, as mined, may be milled to produce a bulk concentrate and alean railing, to separate all o f the valuable minerals from -the worthless gangue. The bulk concentrate would then he treated to produce a high grade lead concentrate and `a high grade zinc concentrate, both of which could be. shipped to the best advantage. The residual concentrate, relatively large in amount, containing practically allioithe copper, gold, and silver, and small amounts of: lead and zinc and other metals in the original ore, is then Ism'elted to recover any or `all of the desired metals as profitable products.

The process will now be described as pertaining to complex sulphide ores containing any or all of the desired metals, occurring either naturally or as an artificial mixture of any or all of them, having as its end product copper matte containing practically all of `the gold and silver in the residual copper concentrate.

Referring to the accompanying drawing: The finely divided sulphide ore, ordinarily the bulk concentrate with most of the lead and zinc eliminated, and usually wet, is fed to the drier 1 ina regulated stream, yand is delivered into the hopper 2 at a conveniently high temperature of about. `300 deg. F., at whichtemperature sulphur begins to volatilize. lt is Vthen showered lfrom the'hopper 2 ina regulated Astream through highly heated oxidizing atmosphere. ofy themelting iiirruitze.V 3 'to oxidize YtheV sulphides ,and melt the. ore.

The molten ore, mixed with the. melting Vfurnace gas, ows. in a continuousstream-mto.- the enclosed chamber 4 where. the. molten. ore is. separated from imelting furnace gas. The. melting. furnaceL gasis withdrawn from the. separating chamber 4 through .the ilueS, into a heat exchanger. 6,- to. heat. fresh air for the melting furnace'and` general. use. inthe process, to remove Isome of the dust, and to reduce the. temperature .of lthe gas, after which it is passed, through the. ilue 8 into the dust chamber 19Y Second',A the molten ore can .bequicklyandcheaply vraisedA to thebest temperature for the separation of 'matte yand slag in the smelting furnace. promoted by the relativequies-cence ofthe molten charge,

ars-compared with the.turbulentagitatioudue to" charging cold Wetore periodically into .the smelting turn-ace, las in presentpractice:

The. molten ore, with-the volatile elements eliminated in the reducing furnace. 10, tiows through the launder 12 into the smeltingurnacel, -where the molten matte is separated from. 'themol-ten slag. The slag; overllows from theA smelting furnacel through the outlet 14, and thematteis removed through the'tap hole 15.

Zinc .is hi'hl-y iniurious Yin smelting rores containing copper, gold, and silver. `amounts it is usually penalized in shipping copper, gold, or silver-.ores to a. customsmeltefr; and in any case, it is rarely, ever, paid-fon ittorms a sluggish slag, and thus causes a; high2-metal floss in the lslag, and it has .a tendency to form accretions in the smelting furnace which interllcrewitheffective smelting.

Zinc sulphide-isreadily oxidized in the highly heated oxidizingf'atmosphere of .themeltingiurnaca much the 'same as in lia'sli roasting. The oxide is not particularly volatile. Metallic zinc is very volatile at temperaturesl above 22300 deg. F. The. oxide in the mol-ten ore, pro- `ducedy in'thamelting-urnace, on passing through the highly :heated'reclucingiatinosphere-of .a column of coke, is reduced to elemental zinc and volatilized, and passes out-of the reducingturnacc: 10 through the liuc 9.

Thcz'gas :from the reducing furnace 10, relatively small in amount, is veryA hot .and contains considerable carbon monoxide, available forheating purposes. lf-the amount of volatilematter inthegas-is-so lowas not to warrant speeial'frecovery, it is owedtlrrough the tl'ue 9 direct into the smelting furnace 13 to keep the furnace at an even temperature for the best results in separating the molten metal produ-ct from the molten slag. If the reducting furnace gas contains Isufficient volatile matter to warrant its special recovery, it is ilowed through the ilue 16 into the fume precipitator 17, :and then through :the =ilues 19 and 9 into the smelting furnace. Elemental zinc on reaching an oxidizing atmosphere is promptly converted into the oxide, and the oxide is recovered in the fume precipitator 17. Lead and other volatile metals act much the same, but not with the same intensity. Zinc oxide freed from injurious iron compounds is easily soluble in sulphuric acid vas the sulphate, which may then Patented Mar. ys, 195.7-

This separation is also If present in considerable 3 be electrolyzed to Aproduce zinc of high purity. Lead sulphate is practically insoluble.

lf the amount of zinc or other volatile metals is so low as not to warrant passing the molten ore through the reducing furnace 10, similar results may be obtained by maintaining a mass of coke in the' separating chamber 4, preferably by-maintaining a pool of the ore 22 in the separating chamber, and tloating a mass of car-A bonaceous material 21 on the pool of the molten ore, or partly immersed in it. This can easily be done because the specilic gravity of the molten ore is large compared with that of coke, and the mass of coke will always automatically distribute itself evenly as the coke is unevenly consumed. The molten ore, separated from the melting furnace gas in the separating chamber 4 flows through the mass or layer of coke, and the melting furnace gas separated from the molten ore ows into the heat exchanger and dust chamber where the volatile metals are recovered in the usual way. Flowing'the molten ore through the highly heated mass of coke to volatilize the volatile elements, will at the same time serve to control the temperature of` the molten ore to get the best separation of the molten metal from the'molten slag. Maintaining a layer of coke or other solids floating on the molten ore in the separating chamber also momentarily retards the showered ore from entering the molten bath, and thus gives time to permit chemical reactions to go to completion in the gas separating chamber. The molten ore at a high temperature in a quiescent mass in the smelting furnace. freed from highly injurious zinc and other volatile metals, assures a high recovery of the gold.

Silica, in the form of crushedquartz or a high grade silicious gold or silver ore, may bemixed with the coke in the reducing furnace 1 0 to facilitate the distribution of the molten ore and the hot furnace gas, and at the same time act as a tlux in forming slag.y By mixing the coke with quartz anydegree of reduction or oxidation may be obtained by varying theirproportions and regulating the air. Coke `and quartz' may-.be charged into the separating chamber from the hopper 20. Flux'es and other reagents may be added as-desired anywhere in the process. f 5

l claim:

1. A process of smelting finely divided complex ore containing copper sulphides comprising, showering the ore through the highly heated oxidizing atmosphere of a melting furnace to oxidize the sulphides and melt the ore, flowing the molten ore and thehot melting furnace gas into an enclosed chamber to separatethem, withdrawing the hot melting furnace gas from the separating chamber, passing the molten ore separated from the melting furnace gas through a highly heated column of carbonaceous material to remove'volatile constituents from the ore, then flowing the ore freed of volatile constituents into a smelting furnace to separate the molten copper matte from the molten ore slag.

2. A process of smelting finely divided complex ore containing copper and other metal sulphides comprising, showering the ore through the highly heated oxidizing descending atmosphere of a melting furnace to oxidize the sulphides and melt the ore withdrawing the mixture of molten ore and melting furnace gas in a combined continuous stream from the melting furnace, separating the molten ore from the hot melting furnace gas, passing the molten ore separated from the hot melting furnace gas through a highly heated column of carbonaceous material to control its temperature and remove volatile constituents from the ore, then completing the ysmelting to separate the resulting copper matte from the molten ore slag.

3. A process of smelting finely divided ore containing copper sulphides comprising, showering the ore through the highly heated oxidizing atmosphere of a melting furnace to melt it and oxidize the sulphides withdrawing the mixture of molten ore and melting furnace gas in a combined continuous stream from the melting furnace,

separating the molten ore from the melting furnace gas, passing the molten ore separated from the hot melting furnace gas through a highly heated mass of carbonaceous material in a reducing furnace to control its temperature andremove volatile constituents from the ore, owing the molten ore into a smelting furnace to separate the molten matte from the molten slag, and delivering the hot gas from the reducing furnace into the smelting furnace to stabilize the temperature of the molten charge.

copper sulphides comprising, showering the ore through the highly heated atmosphere of a melting furnace to melt it,owing the molten ore and the hot melting furnace `gas into an enclosed separating chamber to separate the molten ore from the melting furnace gas, then tlowing the molten ore separated from the melting furnace gas through a highly heated column of carbon against an ascending current of reacting gas, and continuing the smelting to separate copper matte from the molten ore slag.

6. A process of smelting linely divided ore containing copper sulphides comprising, rshowering the ore through the highly heated atmosphere of a melting furnace to melt it, withdrawing the mixture of molten ore and melting furnace gas in a continuous stream from the melting furnace, continuously separating the molten ore from the melting furnace gas, then flowing the molten ore separated from the melting furnace gas through a highly heated mass of carbon, and continuing the smelting tol separate the resulting copper matte from the molten slag.

l References cned in :he me of this patent -UNm-:D STATES PATENTS 538,004 Williamson Apr. 23, 1895 859,572 McDonald c July 9, 1907 2,307,459 l Greenawalt June 5, 1943 2,735,759 Greenawalt Feb. 21, 1956 l enkel 

1. A PROCESS OF SMELTING FINELY DIVIDED COMPLEX ORE CONTAINING COPPER SULPHIDES COMPRISING, SHOWERING THE ORE THROUGH THE HIGHLY HEATED OXIDIZING ATMOSPHERE OF A MELTING FURNACE TO OXIDIZE THE SULPHIDES AND MELT THE ORE, FLOWING THE MOLTEN ORE AND THE HOT MELTING FURNACE GAS INTO AN ENCLOSED CHAMBER TO SEPARATE THEM, WITHDRAWING THE HOT MELTING FURNACE GAS FROM THE SEPARATING CHAMBER, PASSING THE MOLTEN ORE SEPARATED FROM THE MELTING FURNACE GAS THROUGH A HIGHLY HEATED COLUMN OF CARBONACEOUS MATERIAL TO REMOVE VOLATILE CONSTITUENTS FROM THE ORE, THEN FLOWING THE ORE FREED OF VOLTATILE CONSTITUENTS INTO A SMELTING FURNACE TO SEPARATE THE MOLTEN COPPER MATTE FROM THE MOLTEN ORE SLAG. 